Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Wagons East Cowboys

Well, an early bye week sucks for the fans. Does little good for the team who hasn't been in the trenches for long. And exposes the NFL bye week for what it is: a lousy excuse to expand the season by a week and pull in one more Sunday's worth of advertising dollars.

On the positive side, it helps your team's outlook come into clearer view. And this is clear: the NFC East appears wide open. Drew Bledsoe and company's week one ineptitude may have raised questions for the Star faithful. But the performance of their division rivals has helped alleviate our concerns.

Philly has shown signs signs of being back beating up on Houston and San Francisco. But those are NFL punching bags. They also folded in the fourth quarter and overtime against the Giants, who have shown they lack unity and falter against against the real contenders. Washington, in the meantime, needed a date with the lowly Texans to get their first win.

And we can rewind to last season to recall the playoffs and be reminded that New York and Washington weren't near the teams they seemed to be last December. This is really nothing new for these teams.

The Cowboys, though, lost to a team that appears to be one of the AFC's favorites and beat up on Danny Snyder's hogs. They have the desperate Titans in their sights before an Alpha Male match with Philly on October 8. This game should establish the favorite in the division.

And, despite my previous predictions, why can't this team win the division? It's a division of average teams. The Cowboys have questions on the offensive line and at quarterback. But they also have an up and coming defensive core that could propel them into the postseason. It's a recipe for overacheiving. To make the playoffs and have a shot at ending their 10-year playoff victory drought.

Sure, that would mean some things have to break their way, but that is what wide open divisional races are all about.